My heart goes out to those directly affected by the horrible wildfires in Southern California.
An indirect casualty are those trying to close mortgage loans. When there are regional natural disasters like fires, earthquakes, floods, etc, lenders want to make sure the property, that is their security for the loan, has not been impacted.
Governor Brown declared a California State of Emergency, and now President Trump declared a Federal State of Emergency for the counties affected.
Before a lender will fund a loan, as a minimum, the fires will have to be extinguished, and if the appraisal was already completed, an additional final inspection will have to be conducted to make sure the property hasn’t been impacted. Some lenders may require that the State of Emergency has been lifted… which can take months.
As of the time of this writing, the following counties will be impacted:
- Lilac
- Liberty
- Los Angeles
- Riverside
- San Diego
- Ventura
It doesn’t matter how far away the subject property is from the fire. If it’s located in the county, closing a loan will be impacted.
There will be a problem with purchase transactions, fulfilling contingencies and closing dates, and refinances potentially losing loan locks.
Usually when I say I’m “putting out fires” when dealing with a transaction, it doesn’t have to be so literal…
If you are in the Los Angeles area, have any questions or real estate sales or financing needs, feel free in contacting me.
Ron Henderson GRI, RECS, CIAS
President/Broker
Multi Real Estate Services, Inc.
Gov’t Affairs Chair – California Association of Mortgage Professionals
BRE #00905793 NMLS #310358
www.mres.com
ronh@mres.com
Specialist in the Art of Real Estate Sales and Finance
Real Estate market, mortgage rates, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Conejo Valley, Simi Valley, Woodland Hills, West Hills, Calabasas, Chatsworth
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